QuarterNotez

Monday, June 13, 2011

In Hamburg

Very much love the markets...

LaiseHalle - The concert hall in Hamburg~

LaiseHalle

I stole 3 seconds to take a picture of the huge mirror inside the concert hall. My expertise :P

Gorgeous Concert Hall~

From the other side of the concert hall~

Touring around the concert hall~

Just outside the concert hall - Brahms, from young to old~~

getting older~

and older~

Love this!!!

Love this too!!!! This pic was taken besides the bus-stop~

Also love this!!! :)

Hamburg Rathaus (City Hall)~

The gate of the Rathaus...

And the door...

And me~ :)

Inside the Rathaus~

The back of the Rathaus. Beautiful !!!

Exquisite design too, at the roof~

A pretty friend told us how this fountain had not been functioning for a long time, until today :)

The tower of St Nikolai Church~

It was partially destroyed and collapsed in WW2... only the tower survived... (the tourists were actually standing at the position where the original church hall was...)

Love this sight~

It used to be small scale sea-stops for goods...

This absolutely fascinated me!!! Love Lock!!! How romantic!!! :)

At the underground platform. Was having loads of thoughts while waiting for the metro... hence took a pic to remember that very moment ;)

The new concert hall, under construction...

The exterior of the architecture...

It will look like this...

About the new concert hall~

At the airport, before going back to London. Just before i had my luggage checked in, i suddenly remembered i had left a small bag of important, beloved items behind... :'(

As soon as Alma suggested we should visit this museum again. I went completely quiet. I mean yes, I would love to, without a doubt, yet on the other hand, I think I was afraid, and was somehow nervous.

I remembered asking myself repeatedly, do I really need to set foot into that museum, which had, in a way, completed my dream 11 years ago? Though I didn't get to go into the museum on my last visit, I had fulfilled and realised what I had in mind, and to me, I feel complete. And I was/am totally happy.

By getting in to the museum physically, would I be adding or subtracting the happiness and completeness that I had once felt so strongly about?

I was contemplating, very hard.

All things around us are constantly moving forward and accumulating themselves, in a complex manner my intellect wouldn't quite understand. So the process of adding new memories to the old, doesn't necessarily and shouldn't make the old ones disappear, or get smaller; instead it could probably enrich the older memories, by giving it more space, more textures, more width and more colours… I later figured I should let all events unfold before me in a quiet way they would and they should, rather than holding on to what I thought was sufficient, then consciously stop all forms of accumulating…

I then decided to go along with the flow, to investigate what life had in stored for me… :))

I regconised this sign board...

And i regconised this path... and for that few minutes, i felt nervous... both happy and overwhelmed... :')

This is Johannes Brahms Museum~ :)))) I was standing at the front door... and for one moment, i was a little afraid and hesistant to buzz the bell...

Good Old Brahms ;)

Awwwww… at last… ~ :')

This museum was actually one of his many homes. This is the hall. It isn't big, and i had snapped shot almost all the displays… :P

Me and Brahms!!! finally.

In the washroom of my favourite, beloved museum~
This photo, this place and the time spent here (i mean the museum) meant a lot to me~~ :)

That was how Brahms looked like when he died... he had clearly lost a lot of weight!!! :'(

Something exciting!!! I signed on the museum's autograph!!! Which means, what I write, would serve as a tiny little connection with Brahms, that would be kept in one corner of the museum, forever… :)))

That was the pen provided... looked pretty though, but i preferred my own pen :P

That moment~ :)
I was actually very overwhelmed at that point of writing... i was less than calm.
I signed the autograph in Chinese.
That was because I greedily wished Brahms could remember me in a way I wish he would remember me ;)

A rough translation:
Something chooses to not happen eleven years ago; Something chooses to only happen eleven years later. Whichever way it goes; whatever direction it takes, there must be a unique reason of its own... While the beauty of both moments might not be similar; the thankfulness at heart always stays the same :)

A last glance (for now), before i left... :)

Brahms Museum, from far... with alma in the picture... :)

Sunday, June 12, 2011

An Unbelievable Coincidence

I haven’t met JL for about 12 years.

On that morning, I was to leave London for Hamburg.

While in London, he commented on a photo I uploaded on Facebook, asking me to enjoy afternoon teas on his behalf. I joking replied ‘Nope, won’t enjoy for you. You come over, and we shall have an afternoon tea together.’

At Heathrow Airport, while waiting for the flight to Hamburg to take off, I saw someone whom i thought resembled him so much. That someone threw frequent glances at my direction and I was thinking I would write him an email, after arriving in Hamburg, telling him I had seen someone who looked so much like him.

It honestly didn’t occur to me that it was actually him! As, 12 hours ago, he was still in Taiwan, commenting on my photographs.

Just before we board the flight. I finally realized and confirmed, almost at the same time - that it was him!

I walked over, delightfully asked him in Mandarin, ‘Why are you here?’
He was 10 times calmer than I was. In an exceptionally calm tone, he replied, ‘Didn’t you say an afternoon tea together?’

What a cool reply!!! I was very amused, amidst the pleasant surprise.

He then told me he too, was suspecting that it could be me, but he didn’t believe a coincidence could go that far.

And indeed, our coincidence took a step further - we were both dued to take the SAME flight to Hamburg.

Indeed. Time had carefully calibrated all factors behind certain people, certain incidents and certain objects under certain specific settings. Any changes in any one of the settings or along any of the threads would alter the entire outcome. And a coincidence wouldn’t then have happened. With that in mind, I had always cherished coincidence, and am always thankful for the happening of 'such a moment'.

To all my friends whom I had had such a moment… I would register ‘that moment’ of ours in my memory... and in my heart, eternally. :)

Our Second Trip Together

For some reasons, Alma was terribly excited about Heathrow Terminal 5!!! And anything airport/flights related, she's like an yellow pages :)

It was a nice view, a nice corner and it was only 5:42am (UK time)~ And actually, i wasn't very much tune into UK time too, till now, coz i had been waking up at 3am (Well, of course yes, in singapore i wake up at 3am too) So, it could just be my own body clock, in general... ;)

Nice coffee before departure~

Alma felt something for B34!!!! Which explains why we had been sticking to this background for a while :)

ME!!! :P

Alma LOVES & HATES my camera! Each time i took out my cam or phone for snapping, she'd go, 'ooooh... not again!!!' Yet, she loves to view the photos afterwards :P

Guess! what's the first thing alma said to me once we stepped in, 'ok, boonsin, which side do you prefer?' :P Well, needless to say! for me, it's ALWAYS the side closer to the wall ;P

We settled in, changed, and we head straight out to our first destination - the top item on my agenda :)

Saturday, June 11, 2011

A Little Picnic

At Greenwich.

Left my house at 5:45am. It took me 2 hours - arrived at Trinity College of Music at 7:45am, for a sit in piano ensemble lesson. Just in time.